Layers of Truth
by EspressoMug
Summary: It's said that laughter is the best disguise. Marui's hyperactive side distracts people from questioning and noticing too much, but a struggle to prove himself forces Rikkai's self-proclaimed genius to painfully deconstruct his lie and face his fears. AU


**Disclaimer:**I claim no ownership over the characters or PoT.

**Notes: **Borderline shounen-ai. Unbeta-ed. High School!AU. Those boys just do not look like middle school kids in any form. This is a currently unfinished fic, so I only have a vague idea of how long this will be, and how it will end. This started as a character sketch of Marui so it ignores the majority of the canon. Please enjoy though. Also, credit to Sandileina for the nicknames Haru, Maru, and Mura for the RikkaiDai Team!

* * *

The birds outside the three storied, higher education institution chirped, announcing the coming of spring. The blossoming of life outside the walls of the building is in stark contrast to the quiet within Rikkai KotoGakko. It was the last week of official class for the students, directly following the final examinations. Many students stopped making the effort to pay attention, while teachers either handed out problem sets as classwork or lectured on about future material that will be covered again the beginning of next school year. This did not mean teachers would tolerate blatant forms of disrespect, such as sleeping, however.

Mr. Takahisa paced up and down the rows of the class while reading from his history textbook. Midway through explaining the results of the Meiji Reconstruction period, Mr. Takahisa stopped next to the desk of the only red haired student in his class, Marui Bunta.

Marui's arms were folded underneath his head, and above an open history textbook. A string of drool was steadily dripping onto the book's pages and Mr. Takahisa could catch a waft of sickeningly sweet strawberry from what his assumed was the gum Marui had been chewing.

For the past week, Mr. Takahisa has had to deal with Marui sleeping in class, regardless if he had given the students work to do. Added on by the fact that Marui was on the brink of failing his class, Mr. Takahisa seriously considered talking to the principal about pulling Marui out of the school's varsity tennis team. It obviously won't do for the school to sacrifice its academic credibility for mere athletic awards. However, seeing as Marui wasn't failing and there were only three more days to the semester, Mr. Takahisa did the next best thing.

He walked away from Marui's desk to his own desk and placed his textbook down. He then reached behind him to grab a piece of chalk and snapped it in half. Mr. Takahisa then launched the half within his right hand at Marui's head.

Mr. Takahisa grumbled as the chalk made contact with the tempered window glass pane instead, resulting in the birds to loudly chirp and fly away. He regretted not taking off his reading glasses to get a better aim. He regretted it even more when Marui Bunta not only did not awaken, but merely snorted and turned his face away from the window pane.

"Niou Masaharu! Please escort our sleeping beauty friend to the nurse's office!"

Several students silently snickered at Mr. Takahisa's nickname choice for Marui.

Niou chuckled before replying, "Sure thing, Mr. Takahisa; just don't expect me back before the bell rings."

Mr. Takahisa gave Niou a stern stare and grounded out, "Masaharu!".

"Heh, just kidding! Loosen up, there's only three more days."

The other students silently admired Niou for talking back at Mr. Takahisa, even though they were well aware of the trickster's tendencies.

With his hands stuffed inside his school slacks, Niou lazily got up and walked across the room to his sleeping friend. Niou grabbed the collar of Marui's button-up shirt and yanked him up to his full height.

The sleeping boy felt something steadily pushing against his windpipe and soon realized he was having trouble breathing. His eyes snapped open and he gasped for air, but instead ended up choking on his own saliva. Without waiting for confirmation from Marui, Niou held his friend's upper arm and directed him towards the classroom's only exit.

Mr. Takahisa loudly sighed and turned around to face his remaining students. The middle aged man pushed his up his reading glasses; he wondered how many more years he could deal with students like Marui.

"I will not condone sleeping my class. I do not care if today were the last day of classes, I will not allow it. Now because of Marui, please write a 700 word essay based on today's lesson."

A collective groan broke the blanket of silence inside the room and Mr. Takahisa resumed his teaching.

* * *

The trickster was silently chuckling as he brought his teammate outside the classroom. He was still holding onto Marui's upper arm, supporting the weight of his now choking teammate.

"Oi! What was that for Haru? You made me swallow my last piece of gum," choked out Marui.

"Tch. Idiot, you fell asleep in Takahisa's class, again. You should be happy I got you out."

"You also interrupted me dreaming about eating at a pastry buffet! So many tarts, cream puffs, and cakes!"

"Heh, so that's why you drooled all over your desk."

Marui groaned and said, "Quit it. I didn't get to eat dinner yesterday. Where are you taking me to anyways?"

"Takahisa wants you to go to the nurse. Probably thinks some ice will help your brain from overheating from all the work you do in class," snickered Niou.

"Hey!

Marui pried Niou's hand away from his arm, claiming he was in no danger of falling asleep while walking. They stopped twenty feet from the door of the nurse's office and Marui plopped down with his back against the wall and head tilted back, eyes closed. He gestured to his left for his bleached haired friend to sit next to him. Niou figured as much; neither of them was a fan the bat-shit loony nurse, especially after the stint they pulled that landed Kirihara with a dislocated shoulder.

A few seconds passed before Marui grumbled, "Not comfy enough." He opened his eyes to find where Niou's shoulder was. He then let his head lay on the trickster's sturdy limb and pulled one knee up to his chest to wrap his right arm around. This was one of the few moments he was grateful for the height difference between himself and Niou. Marui hummed his approval at the improvement in comfort from the wall to Niou's shoulder and closed his eyes again.

_Sleeping again, Maru?_

At anything other occasion Niou would have had no qualms in shaking the genius volleyist off his shoulder and tell him to make deal with the concrete wall, if only to annoy Marui. In fact, Niou came close to rudely awakening his teammate if he did not see the dark circles around Marui's closed eyes.

He turned a critical eye to Marui's slump form and mentally noted the alabaster translucent skin and the dark eye bags, matched with fading scarlet hair dye and dull violet irises. Niou would have laughed at the odd color combination if it had been on anyone besides Marui.

Niou carefully shifted his weight away from his arm in order to run his fingers through the other's hair, massaging the red head's scalp occasionally. Marui let his body relax and hummed his approval, inching closer to Niou's side. The other's brows were furrowed in worry, though.

There was no doubt to any one in school that the two were close teammates and even more so, friends. The two met in first grade and have been at each other's side till this very day. While Niou was the mastermind behind the pranks, Marui was usually his accomplice. They shared inside laughs and jokes, lunches, and secrets. Each could write the other's biography if given the opportunity, and have it no less accurate than if each were to write their autobiographies. This allowed Niou a full understanding of Marui's personality and behavior, such as knowing a sleepy and tired Marui in public was not normal.

In front of him and the regulars of the tennis team, Marui could be grumpy, drowsy, worn-out, and all around un-Marui-like. But in full view of the three thousand other Rikkai students and nosy teachers, Marui would always keep a hyperactive cheery front. Marui would laugh and joke through final examinations even if he pulled an all night-er the previous day for it; he would make snide comments at the teachers and his classmates even if he had a sore throat and a throbbing migraine; he would down a piece of strawberry shortcake made by one of his admirers even if he knew he would feel like hurling afterwards.

"No joke, Maru. You okay?" questioned the trickster with genuine concern.

Marui merely hummed in response, too deep in sleep to comprehend what Niou said.

This was the fourth day Marui had been like this. Tennis season was officially over for the school year so Marui had taken to disappearing after the last class of the day. Niou didn't mind much, he usually hung out with Yagyuu and Kirihara at the local tennis courts. Somehow he didn't connect the fact that Marui was missing after school to his increased sleepiness in school until it literally landed in his lap. Marui's head slipped off his shoulder and landed on Niou's thigh.

_Damn it, I should have noticed this before. Marui Bunta, you had better hope you aren't doing what I'm thinking. Tch, you should have at least told me or something._

Marui quietly whined at the sudden position change but did not open his eyes.

Niou weakly glared down at the sleeping boy and let out a sigh when he felt drool drip on his thigh.

_You owe me an explanation and two weeks worth of copying homework next year for this, Marui Bunta._

_

* * *

_

I will be on a trip to Japan until the second week of July. That being said, I won't be able to work on this until I come back, but I want to see how you guys respond to this and if I should continue with this; so please review. This is eventually become more angst-y if my muse does not turn into a sugar fluff fairy. Constructive criticism is greatly valued.


End file.
